The Joy of Six 1255

"I am a paid-up Liberal Democrat and an unreconstructed Keynesian. In the recent election, I voted for Labour as a tactical measure to help get the Tories out (success!). I had hopes that Labour would have a bolder, more progressive fiscal policy, following the guidelines set down by Keynes. To date, I am profoundly disappointed." John Cole maps Rachel Reeves's retreat from Keynesianism.

"GP practices in more deprived areas of England ... are relatively underfunded, under-doctored and perform less well than those in other parts of the country, even though their patients are at higher risk of developing multiple health problems." Jessica Bradley on being a doctor on the frontline.

Roger Shelley rightly questions whether the elected-mayor model is right for local authorities outside major cities.

Mark Cocker lets pheasant shooting have both barrels: "It seems of a piece with the industrialised death implicit in these country businesses that the spent carcasses are often burnt in incinerators."

"I hope fans will excuse me for pointing out that Vaughan Williams seems to have missed what a skylark actually sounds like. The opening violin solo, while being heart-stoppingly beautiful, simply doesn’t sound anything like one." Fiona Taylor shows us what The Lark Ascending should have sounded like.

Daniel Gormally suggests there's a dark side to being a chess super-kid: "Every time an eight year old defeats a GM [grandmaster] or a seven year old demonstrates amazing feats of calculation, the bar gets raised higher. And that means that the families involved in these enterprises are driven to more and more extremes. I can't help but think that this is a worrying development."